[Taxacom] The Lacewing Digital Library: a new web resource for insects of the orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera and Raphidioptera

[John D. Oswald]

The Lacewing Digital Library project team is pleased to announce the 
availability of a new web resource -- the Lacewing Digital Library 
(http://lacewing.tamu.edu/index.html) -- dedicated to content about 
lacewings, antlions, fishflies, snakeflies and related insects belonging 
to the superorder Neuropterida (orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera and 
Raphidioptera). A major goal of the Lacewing Digital Library (LDL) 
project is to provide a common and convenient point of access to the 
growing number of on-line resources featuring information about 
neuropterid insects. The initial release of the LDL site announced here 
contains two new resources that may be of general interest to the 
entomological systematics and collections communities: (1) version 2.00 
of the on-line catalogue "Neuropterida Species of the World", and (2) 
version 1.00 of the dataset "Neuropterida Species of the World: a 
dataset for collection curators".

The "Neuropterida Species of the World" 
(http://lacewing.tamu.edu/Species_Catalogue/sctitle.html) is a 
searchable on-line catalogue of the neuropterid species-group names of 
the world. Information on both extant and fossil taxa are included. The 
site contains catalogue record pages for ca. 6900 valid names, 2300 
invalid names, and 300 unavailable names, which are made accessible from 
a "Simple Search" page that searches a pool of more than 16,400 distinct 
combinations of genus- and species-group names. An "Advanced Search" 
page permits searching by a variety of non-name criteria.

The new "Neuropterida Species of the World: a dataset for collection 
curators" (http://lacewing.tamu.edu/downloads/downloads.html) is a 
downloadable dataset that has been designed to provide curators and 
collection managers with taxonomic and nomenclatural information on the 
world Neuropterida, and to be suitable for uploading into local 
collection databases.  The dataset is designed to facilitate activities 
such as resolving taxonomic and nomenclatural issues, printing header 
cards, generating working species checklists and similar collection 
curation matters. The dataset is available in Access, Excel, and Word 
formats.

Comments and suggestions for additions and improvements to the LDL site 
are welcome.

John Oswald
LDL project team leader

(apologies for cross-postings...)



-- 
John D. Oswald
Associate Professor
Department of Entomology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-2475

E-mail: j-oswald at tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 862-3507
More at: http://insects.tamu.edu/people/faculty/oswaldj.cfm

Bibliography of the Neuropterida: http://entowww.tamu.edu/research/neuropterida/neur_bibliography/botn_search.html
Catalogue of the Neuropterida: http://entowww.tamu.edu/research/neuropterida/neur_sp_index/ins_search.html